Kai Malek has a major “love of the game” when it comes to jiu-jitsu. As he talks about the sport, Malek’s passion shines through his stories.“It’s mostly middle-aged white dads,” he jokes about the jiu-jitsu scene in San Luis Obispo — but the grin on his face makes it clear he wouldn’t want to be anywhere else than on the mat. Malek is a journalism senior from San Diego who is going professional in jiu-jitsu.
Malek started training jiu jitsu at 10 or 11 years old after he quit baseball. He said he was pretty bad to start and stopped training in high school. Malek picked the sport back up during his sophomore year at Cal Poly, and since then, it’s basically all he does.
Malek trains jiu-jitsu around 10 to 12 times a week. He has learned how to balance his student and athletic life throughout his time at Cal Poly. Malek uses the skills he gained from studying journalism to create content for his jiu jitsu focused Instagram account. His account, @kaiyuki.jj (shameless plug) features day-in-the-life’s of a student athlete, competition updates, and creative content surrounding jiu-jitsu moves.
Malek speaks humbly about his successes in jiu-jitsu, though his continued progress reflects years of dedication and skill in the sport. After graduation, Malek will continue to practice jiu-jitsu while working in advertising for Gold BJJ in San Diego.
One word that best describes you: Excited
One thing you would bring to a deserted island: Someone to do jiu-jitsu with
Your future plans: Go professional in jiu-jitsu
One object you can’t do your job without: His computer
A Cal Poly class that shaped your life: Plant Diversity and Ecology (BIO 114) with Sean Ryan
Q and A:
Peggy Kuzmich: When did you realize you could go pro?
Kai Malek: There was a point when I was competing every weekend, going to the bay or to LA to do tournaments. And that was when I was like, okay I really want to try to pursue this. It’s a really hard sport to make money in. I knew that I was going to try to do something after school that will satisfy my parents in the sense that they know I’m not throwing my life away. But something that will still allow me to pursue a professional career in jiu-jitsu, which is how I found my job.
PK: Do you have any pre match rituals or superstitions?
KM: Right now, what’s been really working for me is breathing super heavily, almost hyperventilating before the match. It shocks my whole entire body, and then it forces me not to overthink about the match. It makes me go into fight or flight which sounds counterintuitive, but it actually works really well for me.
PK: What would you tell someone trying to go pro in jiu-jitsu or another sport?
KM: First I would tell them to be realistic. Try to really look at the bigger picture and not throw your entire life away and to have a backup plan, even if you have the utmost confidence that you’ll succeed.
It’s just good to have a backup plan because even if you do succeed, that backup plan can turn into a secondary source of income or something. It’s just helpful to have those things and think about your entire life, not just one aspect of it.
PK: Do you have a favorite part or memory from your years at Cal poly?
KM: I was in a class, I did it for a couple quarters in a row and ended up being a TA. We would go to Santa Maria and we would teach 3rd graders different STEM subjects. And it wasn’t a STEM class, it was an interdisciplinary class, there were people from every major. It was fun to go out and interact with kids and be able to talk to them, and they just thought we were so cool because we were college students.
For the final Peak issue this year, the Peak team chose to hold exit interviews with nine students on the horizon of impact. Whether it’s going pro in a less-than usual sport, starting a cheesecake business or transforming the music marketing scene, nine seniors in the class of 2026 stood out as those led by influence. Check out the rest of the features here.